Red RC » International

June 27, 2025

New Foshan ISTC | 1:12 World C/ship Track – First Images

With IFMAR announcing in January that Foshan in China has been awarded the 2026 ISTC and 1:12 World Championships, the hosts are using the occasion to build a super impressive brand new RC facility in the city. A project spearheaded by Gavin Kwok, who was instrumental in bringing the GDC track in Foshan to the international stage through the staging of the FIRC/FEMCA Championship race in 2023 & 2024, the new facility is located in the centre of the Foshan business district with building set for completion at the event of July. The facility will comprise of 3 tracks, the main outdoor asphalt track covering any area 80m X 43m. A second but covered asphalt track measures 42m X 23m while offroad racer will also be catered for with a 50m X 26m offroad track. The venue will have space for several shops and a main pro shop to facilitate supplies and parts for racers. With all three tracks to be floodlit, racer will be able to utilise all the tracks both day and night. The second time China will host the ISTC and 1:12 Worlds, Beijing previously hosting the title deciders in 2016, the new Foshan track will host the 1:12 Worlds from March 26th to 29th with Electric Touring Car running from March 31st to April 4th, 2026.

View more images here

June 25, 2025

2025 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World C/ship – Stage 1 Report

The Stage 1 report for the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships which take place in Santiago, Chile, later this year has been published by host club Club of Aeromodelos of Chile (CACH). The 24th edition of IFMAR’s original World Championship takes place at country’s very impressive CACH facility which houses a variety of RC tracks and airfields and which will also host the 1:8 GT Worlds 2-months earlier. Infinity and Dario Balestri are the defending 1:8 Onroad World Champions with Simon Kurzbuch the last World Champion to be crowned in South America when he won in Brazil in 2015. Officially set to start on November 28th with IPD, the race will run over a ridiculously long 9-day period with December 6th (Sunday) reserved as a rain day. The length of the IFMAR Onroad Nitro World Championships is an issue that has been raised for years as a barrier to participation yet it has still not be addressed by the governing body. While we wont be there for the 9-days, Red RC look forward to making the trip to Chile to report on how the race unfolds.

View Stage Report here

June 24, 2025

Wins for Sawada and Coelho at SIGP Onroad Grand Prix

Sunpadow Batteries’ annual SIGP International Onroad Grand Prix took place over the weekend in Xiamen, China, where Infinity pairing Jin Sawada and Bruno Coelho took the big wins. In 1:10 Electric Touring Car it was Japanese driver Sawada who took the TQ ahead of the Xray of Singapore’s Nicolas Lee with Kouki Kato’s Infinity in P3. As the defending SIGP Champion, Coelho would line-up 5th for the triple finals. Fending off Coelho in A1, Sawada was able to win again in A2 to take the victory while winning A3 Coelho secured P2 with Lee completing the podium at the impressive 3-circle ARC International RC Racing Track. Making a return to his roots after a long absence from the category, in 1:8 Nitro Onroad Coelho would secure the TQ ahead of his Australian team-mate Jesse Davis and Andy Moore with former 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Champion Meen V in fourth. After the Semi finals it was Capricorn driver Meen V who would start P2 behind Coelho but the Portuguese ace had lost none of his nitro skills and setting the fastest lap was able to take the win by 4-laps from Davis and Moore with Meen missing out on the podium in P4.

Image: Sunpadow [sunpadow.com]

June 23, 2025

Beretta crowned new 1:8 GT European Champion

Genius Racing’s Filippo Beretta is the new EFRA 1:8 GT Nitro European Champion. Racing at the MRC Leipzig track in Germany, the Italian topped the opening three qualifiers to secure the TQ ahead of team-mate and 2022 & 2023 Champion Bernard-Alain Arnaldi. Topping the fifth & final qualifier Daniel Schepis secured third ahead of Andrea Catanzani, the Serpent having topped seeding. Missing the cut of directly qualifying for the 45-minute title deciding final, the Raptor of Alessio Mazzeo qualified P5 ahead of Capricorn’s Alex D’angelo. In the final it was very much Beretta who was in control however Catanzani found a way passed his fellow countryman with 5:30 on the clock. Crossing the finish just half a second ahead it looked like Catanzani was the new European Champion however in post race technical inspection his fuel tank failed and Beretta was declared the Champion of the 4th running of the European Championships. It would be an all Genius Racing podium with Leonardo Valente second and Arnaldi third. Travelling to Germany as the reigning Champion Natanaele Senesi would finish P4 having had issues in qualifying and ended up P11. Reigning World Champion Toni Gruber qualified 9th and like Senesi had to come through the Semi finals eventually finishing P7. In 1:8 Electric GT it was Xray’s Adam Izsay who the new Champion ahead of 2023 Champion Mazzeo with Schepis completing the podium.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]

June 20, 2025

Sweep official 1:8 GT World Championship tyre supplier

As Chile continues its preparation for hosting the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships in September, the organisers have announced Sweep as the official tyre supplier. Racers will use the recently released D-SPEC GT 40 tyre. The organisers have been testing the tyre in various conditions with their advisors since January and ultimately made the decision after a comparison test with other options at the Club de Aeromodelos de Chile (CACH) in the past 2 weeks when weather conditions were similar to those expect in September. The main focus was performance, durability, quality and how long they took to reach optimum performance (considering that EP racing cannot afford to have a lengthy warm up period and tire warmers are not allowed).

Source: IFMAR Worlds Chile 2025 [ifmarworlds2025.com]

June 12, 2025

IFMAR confirm Thornhill as ’26 1:8 Offroad Worlds track

IFMAR, the World governing body of RC racing, has officially confirmed that the hosting of the 2026 IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship will be hosted by the Thornhill Racing Circuit in Texas. Posting details of the 2026 calendar, IFMAR confirmed the widely expected news that the home of the annual ‘The Dirt’ Lonestar Challenge and this year’s ROAR Nationals will welcome the best drivers in the World to battle it our for the biggest prize in the sport from September 26th to October 3rd 2026. The Thornhill Racing Circuit complex is situated on 13.9 acres with the dirt track having the unique feature of being fully covered. Las Vegas was the venue on the World Championships last visit to the US when David Ronnefalk took the 2016 title.

View 2026 IFMAR World Championship Calendar here

June 10, 2025

Diekmann wins Oslo Open 2025

Capricorn driver Thilo Diekmann took the main win at the Oslo Open 2025, the annual nitro onroad race held at the impressive Hverven Raceway located south of the Norwegian capital. While rain hampered the event, in qualifying it was former 1:5 World Champion Martin Lissau who was the Top Qualifier ahead of the Mugen Seiki of British Champion Alex Thurston who both booked their direct place into the final. For 2024 Oslo Open winner Francesco Tironi qualifying P5 meant he had to start his quest for two in a row from the Semi Finals but he failed to go the distance and his race was over. The Italian did however get some consolation on Sunday when he won the 15-minute Midnight Sun Sprint race ahead of Thurston. Qualifying 8th, Diekmann would progress from his Semi and in the 45-minute Main, which ran on Saturday night, he took the win a lap up on Lars Haugen with Alexander Andersson joining him on the podium. Both Lissau and Thurston had a troubled final with the Dane retiring with 7-minutes to go and Thurston finishing a distant fourth.

Image: Thilo Diekmann [Facebook]

June 9, 2025

Harleman wins Dutch EFRA Large Scale GP

The second round of the 2025 3-race Large Scale EFRA GP series took place in the Netherlands over the weekend where Mecatech driver Marco Harleman took the win. With rain having affected the opening round in Spain, where Bernard-Alain Arnaldi took the win, racing at the Real80 track in Groningen drivers again faced difficult wet weather conditions with qualifying seeing limited running. With the 3rd of the 6 scheduled qualifiers proving the quickest, it was Hessel Roskam who secured pole position. For the wet 30-minute final, a number of drivers would not start the race, leaving 3rd place qualifier Harleman to take a commanding win. The Dutch driver was joined on the podium by Luke Van den Berg and Pieter Netten. The third of the EFRA Large Scale Grand Prix races takes place on September 13/14 in Lostallo, Switzerland, where drivers will be hoping for a break from wet conditions.

Source: Mecatech Racing Components [Facebook]